


Steps to Liking Jisung Park

by aegiwrites



Series: NCT Chronicles [1]
Category: NCT
Genre: Gen, Hugging, Kissing, No Smut, awkward teening, but most likely mentions of sexual stuff, cus hyung line is in it, even - Freeform, is pretty soft, it's cute y'all trust me, markhyuck, reader and jisung happens quite slowly im sorry, the only prevalent relationship is mark and donghyuck, very soft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-02-05 20:26:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12801696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aegiwrites/pseuds/aegiwrites
Summary: "Are you foreign?""It was that obvious?"Think; how many licks to the center of the tootsie pop but romantic.Disclaimer; this is less of a story and more of a flash book of moments where love grew.. god that was cheesy





	1. Step 1: Get Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Words in italics are in Korean. Okay? Okay. :)

    The day you met Jisung Park, you were a mess. You and your parents had just moved to South Korea after your mom decided moving to the other half of the world would be 'refreshing and exciting'. Really, it was tiring and scary because, hello you weren't fluent in Korean! So, after an almost twelve hours straight period of moving in, there you were on the way to the nearest coffee shop, or any place where you could find coffee; then you saw him.

    At first you were sure you were hallucinating. First off; his hair was so bright you didn't think it would exist. Second off; he was so tall with such a baby-face, it just didn't seem realistic. Third off; you were wearing a pair of paint-stained sweatpants that matched with your paint-stained hoodie and a gorgeous boy was walking towards you. You were sure there was no way you were that unlucky. Sadly, you were. You'd blinked- three times to be sure- and he was still there.

    "Apparently, hair that bright exist in real life," you muttered to yourself. Slightly more aware of yourself, you rushed into a shop you finally realized was a coffee shop. Once you entered the shop, your next issue arose; you had to read and pronounce the Korean properly in order to order. As if that task alone wasn't hard enough, you also had to build up the courage to do all of the previously mentioned activity. It was going to be quite a mission for your tired brain.

    _"_ _Are you okay?"_ you heard a voice beside you and turned to see the one and only cotton candy hair dude. A closer look revealed he was carrying a few plastic bags and was wearing sweatpants like you were. Your over exhausted brain finally translates the most common phrase and you sputter out an answer.

   _"_ _Yes,"_ it was a lot weaker than you had wanted it to be. Cotton candy boy smiled at you nonetheless, and you felt like you had achieved something.

   _"My name is y/n. Who.. who are you?"_ you asked and he laughed.

    "You're foreign, yes?" he asked and you immediately knew he had caught your inexperienced Korean. You were a little embarrassed but mostly relieved that you didn't have to stutter your way through a conversation.

    You nodded, "Yeah, actually I just moved here recently, so I'm still adjusting to the language. How is your English."

    The boy just stared at you and you had to wave a hand in front of his face, "Do you speak English well?"

    Then the boy's face fell from concentration into a blush, he smiled, "Yeah, I speak English more than you speak Hangul. This is okay."

    You returned his smile, "Thank you, but I was, uh, wondering. How do I order a caramel frappucino?"

    "Yeah, no problem," he said easily, leading you to the line, "I can order for you, because the person at the counter talks very fast. I don't want you to get confused."

    You were thankful, and agreed. The both of you waited in the line and talked for a bit. Quickly, you found out Jisung was sixteen, like you, and that in Korea you were both technically seventeen. Just as he mentioned something about music the barista called the both of you up. Jisung ordered quickly and guaranteed that your drink was on it's way. The both of you sat at the nearest booth as you stated how fast Jisung's Korean was.

    "I'm totally not prepared for Korean life," you sulked, "I know like zero Korean and I just moved here yesterday."

    Jisung sighed, "I see. You're not just a visitor. You're staying. It must be so odd, coming to a totally foreign country where you don't know the language. Don't worry though, a few of my friends have come to Korea not speaking a lick of Korean and now their geniuses. More or less."

    "That gives me some hope," you smiled, "but it's like my entire schedule has been slipped upside down."

    "I know, that must be hard to deal with. Luckily, though, I'm you're friend now. So as flipped as your life might be, I'll show you the ropes," Jisung said your face brightened up.

    "Really," your face lit up, "or as the Korean's say,  _really_." 

    Jisung just laughed before he nodded, " _Really_. And you're in luck, it's summer, so you have a two whole months to learn. I even have a buddy that's good at English."

    You felt so grateful, you could've kissed him but just then the server brought the drinks and Jisung's phone beeped. Right after Jisung thanked the server, he started to rush.

    "Okay, super duper sorry but I gotta head back. I was only supposed to get snacks so I need to rush back. I wasn't supposed to stay this long but call me, okay?" he sputtered out, and you quirked an eyebrow. 

    "I don't have your number," you said, a laugh on the edge of your smile.

    He froze before turning red, "Right. Can I see your phone?"

    You did laugh that time, passing him your phone. He passed you his, and you put your number in, as well as snapping a picture of yourself. Then you remembered you were in paint splattered sweatpants and you turned red too. Quickly, goodbyes were said and promises to stay in contact were made. 

    Yeah, the day you met Jisung Park, you were a mess. Then again, so was he. 

    

 


	2. Step 2: Get Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you wanna be my lover; you gotta get with my friends (but not like that ew)

    The next time you saw Jisung was a few weeks later. You’d spent ample time texting, but he was a busy boy apparently. Since the only other person you knew, besides your parents, was unavailable, you saw no reason to leave the house; your mother disagreed. She insisted the best way for you to improve your Korean was to get some real-life practice. It was easy for her to say, she was a soon to be English teacher— no one would begrudge her if her Korean was off.  
    An hour later, even though you had disagreed, you found yourself in front of the mall and surrounded by Korean. There were a few splatters of English but there was barely enough for you to figure out exactly where you were. Luckily, you had your cellphone and some money and you refused to chicken out. Also your mom had dropped you off and you were to scared to try to figure out the buses but still… you weren’t a quitter.  
    Once inside the mall you wandered around for a while, gazing at the sights and window shopping. You attempted to go to the book store but realize the majority of the books are in Korean. You quickly purchased a Korean-English dictionary and the transaction happened rather easily. However, once you were freed from the belly of the beast, you realized how hungry you were. You approached the map, hoping it would decide to be nice and reveal directions to the food court.  
    You’d been there for quite a while when someone tapped you on the shoulder. You jumped away, screaming, and so did the person who touched you. A good look at them revealed that they looked stereotypically robber-like with a mask on and their hat pulled low. You held your purse out, happy that at the very least your phone was still in your back pocket.  
    The robber shook his head and waved he hands, “ _No! No, it’s okay. I’m not here to rob you._ ”  
    You pulled your purse back before bowing and apologizing, “ _Sorry, I’m just not from here._ ”  
    “I figured,” the male figure laughed, pulled up his hat and pulled down his mask so you could see his face, “Sorry, if my mask and hat gave you the wrong idea. You looked like you were confused and I wanted to help.”  
    You smiled, happy that you’d found yet another cute English speaker, “Thank you! Uh, I was trying to find the food court? I can’t seem to be able to find it.”  
    "It’s this way,” the guy smiled back, pointing behind him, “I’m heading that way too, I can walk you there if you want?”  
    While you were sure your mom would disagree with you for following a stranger you’d just met, that’s exactly what you did. Common sense said not to follow him but you were in a Korean mall and everything was confusing. This random, cute, English-speaking boy was the only familiarity you had.  
    “Sure,” you agreed, “The name’s Y/n, by the way.”  
    “Nice to meet you, Y/n, I’m Mark,” the boy greeted you as if you hadn’t just assumed he was a robber.  
    You laughed at his politeness, “It’s a pleasure, Mark. You have great English by the way.”  
    “I would hope so. I’m Canadian,” the boy chuckled and a blush rose to your cheeks.  
    “Oh no,” you muttered, “I’m sorry. I shouldn't have assumed that you were only Korean.”  
    He waved you off, “It’s nothing. I am 100% Korean blood, I just happened to be born in Canada.”  
    “Oh, so are you on a trip? Or have you moved here?” you asked.  
    “I’ve moved here. I moved a few years ago though, so at this point I think South Korea feels more like home then Canada,” he said and you nodded.  
    “Yeah, I can understand that. I just moved here recently but my new home already feels more like home,” you sighed before continuing, “but then I step outside of my house and the difference comes snapping back very quickly.”  
    Mark laughed and you blushed, “You’ve moved here?”  
    “Yeah, but it’s weird. I’m surrounded by a ton of people all the time but I still feel like I’ve been stranded in the middle of nowhere all by myself,” you coughed when you realized you’d just went way too deep with this obvious stranger, “anyway, it’s not terrible here, the foods good.”  
    Sadly, Mark had seemed to notice your depressing episode and slowed down, “Hey, it’s not terrible. You’ll make friends, and things will get better from there.”  
    “No way,” you snorted, “Not if the level of my Korean has anything to do with it. I can’t make friends because I can’t talk to anyone.”  
    “You talked to me earlier,” he objected.  
    “Mark,” you sighed, “I gave you my purse because I didn’t know the words for robber, police, or help. I’m not going to be speaking fluent Korean anytime soon. I have one Korean friend, and that’s because he speaks English, even then, half our texts are google translate. Even with him, I don’t see him often, or at all. I’ve only met him once, actually.”  
    “I’ll change that,” Mark said, determinedly, “I have a kind of busy schedule, but I’ll figure it out. And we can start now. I’m meeting my friends in the food court. You can hang out with us!”  
    You smiled, for someone who was supposed to rob you, he was a nice dude, “That would be nice. Thank you.”  
    “No problem, but one more thing how old are you?” he asked.  
    “Here? Seventeen I believe?” you said and Mark laughed.  
    “You’re seventeen? And you’ve been so nonchalant with me? You know, I'm 20?” he asked, shocked.  
    You stared at the boy (man??) in front of you. Jisung has told you that in Korea, you became an adult at the age of 20, but it hadn’t really clicked until now. Sure, he was kind of tall, but he seemed too boyish to be an adult. Adults scolded people your age, but here he was helping you get unlost in a non-condescending way. You couldn’t believe it, but then you realized what he was now getting at.  
    “Sorry,” you said, eyes widening as you bowed quickly.  
    “It’s cool, you’re probably still getting used to the whole respect thing we have here. Don’t worry, you’re a foreigner so most people will cut you some slack,” Mark told you, laughing at your awkward bow.  
    You smiled, “I hope so. I’m already quite awkward, hopefully people can cut me bit of slack, manner wise while I figure my life out, y’know.”  
    “I’m sure they will,” Mark assured you, “and the good thing is one of my friends are your age. He’s Korean but he’s decent in English, most of my friends are, actually. It’s probably because I speak English around them.”  
    You smiled at the stranger, he was rambling a bit but you knew it was to be helpful. He seemed like a good dude and you felt bad about assuming he was a thief.  
    “That’s good, hopefully you guys can teach me more about South Korea and it’s culture,” you said, and Mark smiled at you.  
    “For sure.”  
    The next few minutes, you guys talked about Korea and it felt good to have someone around your age who knew exactly where you were coming from. Mark understood how there was a bit of culture shock, and even though he was decent at Korean when he arrived, he said it was weird for him too, all of sudden have to switch your main language.  
By the time you were at the food court, you were sure that you’d found a new friend. You were so excited to tell Jisung about him when you got home. However, as you started to walk towards the table of friends you got nervous.  
    You started to fidget, you knew so little about Korean culture and social cues, that you would have absolutely no idea if they hated you, unless of course they said it, which would be super embarrassing. So as you walked up to the table that Mark pointed at, you took deep breathes and realized worse comes to worse, you catch a cab back home and never come to this mall again.  
    At the table sat six boys, who were all being very rowdy, but their noise seemed to blend into the bustle of the mall. Two were fake fighting, throwing fake punches that pretended to knock each other out. One was deep into his phone, although you didn’t know how he could see with his mask so high and hat so low, the yellow version of Mark’s headwear. Two were talking excitedly, arms flailing everywhere, one tall brown haired boy almost poking a short boy in the neck.  
    The short boy turned around to complain, but instead spotted Mark and his face broke into a bright smile.  
    “ _Mark-hyung!_ ” he yelled loudly, “ _You’re here, .. Jaemin-hyung ... stop waving his arms around ... he kills me._ ” You scrunched your nose as you tried to comprehend the fast korean.  
    “ _I barely touched you,_ ” the other one, corrected, and you blinked confusedly as you tried to catch up with the quick fire korean that the two broke out into.  
    “ _Mark-hyung, it’s about time you arrived, we’re hungry,_ ” a boy with dark hair boy said and you barely connected the Korean into a comprehensible sentence.  
    “Sorry I’m late,” Mark answered in English as you were still trying to understand the Korean, “I found somebody who needed help, so she’s gonna eat lunch with us. Everyone meet Y/n.”  
    You were shocked as Mark suddenly pulled you in front of him, presenting you like an essay he was proud of. You blankly stared at the table, to anxious to meet any eyes.  
    “Hello, my name’s Y/n. Nice to meet you,” you mumbled, bowing.  
    There was an abrupt sound then, shockingly, your name, “Y/n? Is that you?”  
    Shocked, you looked up to find Jisung, “Jisung? You know Mark?”  
    “You know her?” a boy asked, shocked.  
    “Yes, we’re friends,” Jisung admitted, shyly, and you worried for a second that Jisung was ashamed of you.  
    Mark seemed to mistake the crease of your brows as confusion, “English mode, please. She’s new to Korea. Her Korean needs improvement.”  
    “Ah, hello,” the boy who had asked who you were said brightly, “I am Haechan, but friends call me Donghyuck.”  
    His accent was cute but you barely had enough time to smile at him before the next boy was being introduced.  
    “I’m Renjun, nice to meet you,” the boy politely introduced himself. He looked well put together but nice.  
    Introductions sailed by quickly as the boys were eager to eat and soon the group split up to hunt for food. The boys left you and Jisung to reserve the table with promises of free food.  
    It was quiet for approximately two seconds before you broke the silence, “Do you want me to leave?”  
    Jisung’s eyes widened, “No, it’s okay, stay.”  
    “Are you sure,” you asked uncertainly, chewing on your lip, “you don’t seemed to please to see me. And I haven’t seen you since the coffee shop.”  
    “No, I’m happy to see you, really, but I’m shocked. I didn’t expect to get to see you again for another month, or so,” Jisung said and you scrunched your brow.  
    “A month? That’s so long,” you said, trying not to frown.  
    “Yeah, I know but you know my job?” he asked and you nodded. Jisung has told you about his job, kind of. You didn’t know exactly what it was— probably some manual work if a teen boy could do it, plus he was always complaining about being tired— but you knew it took up a lot of his time. The only time your text convos weren’t rushed were when they were late at night, but even then, Jisung had to go to sleep because he had work early in the morning.  
    “Yeah, you’re always working,” you said before looking around the food court you were in, “or at least I thought you were.”  
    “I am, usually. Most days I go to work early, stay in the building all day and leave at night but, today was special. It’s a celebration of sorts. It’s difficult to understand, but I’m excited you’re here now.” Jisung tried to assure you but, he saw the furrow of your brow and continued on, “ _really_.”  
    You broke into a smile, that Jisung quickly mirrored, “ _really._ ”  
    “Maybe _really_ can be our always,” you said jokingly and Jisung cocked his head in confusion. You shook your head starting to stutter as you tried to take back your words. Jisung broke into a chuckle.  
    “I’m joking,” Jisung said, “I know the Fault In Our Stars, Donghyuck-hyung showed it to me. He cried.”  
    You didn’t know if it was better or worse that he got your reference, and tried to change the convo, “Hyung? Why Donghyuck-hyung?”  
    Jisung then explained how it was a sign of respect in Korea. How if there was someone older than you, it was a must have in Korea to add certain suffixes depending on both parties’ age and gender, but it was easy to understand. By the time the boys came you had a decent understanding.  
    You smiled at Mark who had sit across from you, “ _Oppa, you have food._ ”  
    Mark blinked at you, before cracking into a smile, “Yeah, I do.”  
    “Jisung-ah, what have you taught Y/n?” Jaemin said, scolding him.  
    “What’s wrong?” you asked looking at Jisung, “Did I use it wrong?”  
    “No,” Renjun said, “but usually people wait a while before calling someone oppa. It’s a term of closeness as well as respect.”  
    You blushed before bowing your head once again, “Sorry. I didn’t know.”  
    “It’s okay,” Chenle said, “You’re learning, and it took me forever to learn, by the way. But now I’m like fluent.”  
    The rest of the boys shook their hands and Chenle pouted, “Hey, be quiet if you’re korean.”  
    Renjun raised his hand, “As a non-native korean, you’re comprehendible. That’s it.”  
    Chenle chucked a slice of pepperoni at Renjun, and the table burst into laughter. As the convo continued on, you and Jisung continued to steal from the others plates, payment for saving the seat. The conversation broke into a bit of Korean, but Mark was ready to translate, so it wasn’t half bad.  
    That afternoon, when the boys had left and Jisung left with promises of seeing each other before the month was over, your dad picked you up from the mall. You were happy your mother had made you get out of the house, and maybe a little happy you’d got lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took forever to write cus i’m a lazy mess and my computer keeps acting up Yikes


End file.
